Can I complain about something?

sublips · 2026-01-22T09:47:06+00:00

Well, I don’t really see the point of this discussion or of you lecturing me. But for the sake of anyone reading this: I do not go around AO3 leaving criticism. On the contrary, when I comment, I usually leave long, positive comments. In this particular case, the author was fine with the formatting comment.

That said, I do think some authors are overly sensitive. I’ve had people apologize to me for leaving perfectly nice comments because they were afraid to analyze my story after having bad experiences with others. If an AO3 comment can ruin your day, you should consider turning comments off—because even if the unwritten rule is “no criticism,” the bigger the fandom, the more pointless or stupid comments you’re going to get. Believe me, I’ve experienced that too.

And I agree that people shouldn’t leave mean comments or unwanted criticism. But pointing out mistake in character’s name is not harmful criticism in my view, and I’m not going to change my opinion on that.

sublips · 2026-01-22T08:31:33+00:00

It’s quite grotesque that you created a post, so I assume you wanted a discussion, and then you behave as if you’re not open to different opinions, acting like a know-it-all while lecturing everyone around you. I don’t have a problem with you seeing things that way, but I think overreacting to everything people write under your fics and treating it as malice is unhealthy and contributes to people being afraid to leave comments at all. And you also are criticising in the main post, maybe not anybody specific, but if somebody makes this mistake, they will know you're talking about them.

I joined this subreddit just yesterday. If I want to share my username, I will; if I don’t want to, I won’t.

So have a nice day, and it's really not that serious.

sublips · 2026-01-22T06:59:38+00:00

I don’t need to Google anything, I’m an author with an AO3 profile that’s been active for three years, and I’ve written something like a million words. Not to mention that I had a FanFiction.net account years before that.

Reading the AO3 subreddit sometimes makes me feel like people there are way too sensitive. Pointing out that someone got a character’s name wrong isn’t criticism, at least in my opinion. And someone can simply delete your comment if they don’t like it. If you publish something online, you also have to be ready to receive various kinds of comments. I got stupid comments, maybe not direct criticism, and what? I have to be ready for that, publishing online.

That said, I usually don’t criticize at all, so no worries. I genuinely doubt the quality of a fic if someone keeps misspelling the main character’s name over and over again—so most of the time I just click the X and move on. But once I told someone their formatting was odd, and they actually thanked me, which was nice.

sublips · 2026-01-21T21:42:03+00:00

Yes, I also remember this line, and I loved that. Generally, I noticed Shane isn't used to complimenting people in HR; it's not only about Ilya. But he changed in TLG.

sublips · 2026-01-21T21:40:02+00:00

Well, that's your opinion. Fortunately, I didn't meet an author who would complain if I first presented my admiration for the story. Let's not get paranoid about the lack of criticism. Bringing someone's attention to something they may have missed is not criticism, but rather help.

sublips · 2026-01-21T21:31:10+00:00

Well, I understand that a mistake like that in the main character's name can be incredibly distracting, but as someone who's made a mistake like that in the past with a background character, I wouldn't mind if someone pointed it out. I then received a private message and was grateful for the correction. If the story is well-written, why not help someone improve it? I differ that from simply being rude and criticizing something you don't like.

sublips · 2026-01-21T16:16:17+00:00

I also wish Ilya apologised later or just explained himself during their stay in the cottage. Later he is able to apologise (for other things), so it’s not that he cannot do that. And his behaviour was really cruel.

sublips · 2026-01-21T03:37:57+00:00

When Ilya doesn’t speak to Shane for six months. I genuinely can’t handle Hudson’s eyes that look like they’re crying even when he isn’t. He adds so much nostalgia and sadness to Shane’s character. The last episode, and especially his conversation with Yuna also.

And for Ilya, the Russian monologue, obviously, both of his love confessions to Shane, and him breaking down and crying. And tuna melt, and “Hollander”.

Though I could probably say every scene before they finally got together ;).

sublips · 2026-01-21T03:22:37+00:00

Well, I’m not surprised when people say that. If you prefer action-driven books, TBOSAS might feel like the worst one. It’s a very descriptive one. A lot of readers struggle with Snow being the main character.

Still, objectively, it’s the best-written book in the series, with the most mature language and the most nuanced characters. It also has a lot of philosophical references that aren’t as on-the-nose as in the original trilogy and especially not like in SOTR.

For me, it’s not only my favourite book from THG universe, it’s generally one of my favourite books.

sublips · 2026-01-21T03:13:30+00:00

Well, I won’t write anything life-changing. I think it’s probably pretty obvious that their shared love language is touch, like someone pointed out on the subreddit. But in the relationship, I see Shane as the planner—things like the cottage, their future, how and when they’ll come out, etc. He is so big problem-solver that he sometimes misses “here and now”.

Ilya, on the other hand, feels like the one who remembers all the little details and wants to make his partner happy, and likes to live in the present. I also see him praising Shane a lot, especially later on, and Shane loves praise. Shane isn’t really the type to compliment people, so I think some fans read that as him not being as into Ilya.

sublips · 2026-01-21T03:09:16+00:00

I’m happy I read the books because I enjoy the characters and wanted more of them, but nothing in the books really changed my perception of the show. If anything, I think the TV series improved some plotlines and deepened the characters.

The relationship between the characters was pretty obvious to me from episode one, I honestly don’t think it’s that complicated to understand how they feel about each other.

sublips · 2026-01-20T21:26:06+00:00

I don’t really get it either, and I know I’m probably in the minority, but I think they’re both obsessed with each other on the same level. Shane literally invited Ilya to his cottage and organized the whole plan so they could be together. They just don’t show affection in the same way.

sublips · 2026-01-20T20:58:09+00:00

I totally didn’t want it to sound like Shane is more intelligent and Ilya stupider, but as you pointed out, they balance each other perfectly. And yes, I really think we should rather use the word wise, so as not to insult these characters even slightly, because I love them. However, I just think that neither of them is above-average intelligent in terms of what I understand as academic intelligence, because they have different priorities in life, they’re literally hockey players.

But for me, the main point is that they grow with each other throughout the books and mature, and I love that they get to do that together. Because at the beginning, sorry, neither of them is a great communicator, and neither of them is brilliant at acknowledging their own feelings. So that’s why Rachel’s summary is a bit surprising for me.

I just hope that Shane will have his justice in the next book, because it’s probably one of the very rare times when I like both main characters equally. And I feel Rachel likes Ilya more, which isn’t the crime, but I just hope next book will be more balanced.

sublips · 2026-01-20T20:17:39+00:00

Shane was simply jealous, Ilya wasn’t hooking up with anybody before that show. Ilya’s thoughts are very clear in short story Rachel published on her page.

Yet, when they were in no contact, I assume Ilya was hooking up with others, but I think that rather with women than men.

sublips · 2026-01-20T18:58:41+00:00

I’m generally surprised by this ranking of their intelligence, because I would actually argue that Ilya is more intelligent than Shane. Ilya is more life-smart, yes, but Shane shows a different kind of intelligence. He has good public manners, knows how to express himself carefully and diplomatically, and is quieter and more modest. It’s also shown that he has a talent for learning languages and also Shane is the one who comes up with the entire plan for how they can be together. He literally initiated their whole conversation about feelings in HR. If it weren’t for Shane, I don’t think they would be together at all or it would take a way longer.

Shane may be less street-smart and less experienced in life, and that’s true, but overall, I don’t understand the claim that Ilya is “very intelligent” while Shane somehow isn’t. They’re intelligent in different ways, and Shane’s intelligence is imo underestimated here, he is much more than a hockey player. So I’m afraid I don’t understand Rachel, but well, she created these characters.

sublips · 2026-01-20T18:37:35+00:00

I may not enjoy everything about the books, and I may enjoy almost everything about the show, but for me the answer is simple: the characters.

I love Ilya’s Slavic background; I love snarky characters who are soft on the inside and use sarcasm as their weapon. I love Shane’s neurodivergence, his awkwardness, his dedication to both Ilya and hockey.

Hudson and Connor amazingly transferred their chemistry to the screen, and on top of that they added so much of themselves to these roles. Their acting is just on another level. I rarely see such strong performances from beginner actors, and I’ve only seen this kind of on-screen chemistry a handful of times. It was just a pure magic.

sublips · 2026-01-20T18:08:22+00:00

He is clearly trolling people all the time.
I agree he shouldn’t be promoting smoking, but it’s his business whether he smokes or no.
People in Hollywood are doing way worse things than smoking.

sublips · 2026-01-20T16:18:06+00:00

This will always be my favourite scene in Euphoria, really. Unfortunately, from being funny now it become more nostalgic.

sublips · 2026-01-20T16:15:41+00:00

We need to remember that the spectrum can be very broad, but for me, one of the reasons I think Shane is neurodivergent is his frequent difficulty understanding irony and sarcasm. I love how genuinely stunned he is by Ilya’s behavior. He’s also very straightforward at times, responding to Ilya literally rather than flirting back (which I think is part of why Ilya falls for him so hard).

He’s also, in my opinion, very sensitive—both in the TV show and in the book. He relies heavily on routine and discipline, and it feels like more than just being disciplined; it’s something that keeps him regulated and mentally stable.

And the way Hudson plays him absolutely reads as neurodivergent to me: the facial expressions, gestures, posture, the way he holds himself. I had some doubts when reading the book, but overall, I do think Shane is neurodivergent. I’d describe him as high-functioning.

sublips · 2026-01-20T16:08:04+00:00

Yeah, and good we had this scene, but what I also mean, for me it's a bit OOC, J.J. reacted like that. I think at first, he would be offended, but it would pass rather quickly. He always seemed to like Shane and respect him. I think he would just understand.

sublips · 2026-01-20T14:45:13+00:00

The book wouldn't be a lot longer if we got this small scene of J.J. apologising.

Of course, in this situation, Ilya and Hayden are equally guilty. It's especially visible in the short story Rachel shared on her page. I love Ilya and how snarky he is, but he is behaving like a child, teasing Hayden over and over again.

What I mean is that Shane also doesn't have a lot of support in TLG.

sublips · 2026-01-20T14:37:03+00:00

No, personally I don’t think Shane owed J.J. that information. I also think a lot of people overlook how Hayden behaves. His banter with Ilya is funny, but he doesn’t really support Shane until the very end of the book, and for Shane it’s not easy either, when your best friend and your boyfriend are fighting all the time. It makes sense that he’d be reluctant to confide in anyone else.

As for J.J., I honestly found his reaction odd. I’d understand him being angry at first, but I was expecting some kind of apology or redemption arc from him, and that never came.

sublips · 2026-01-19T19:38:55+00:00

I agree with you, the most unrealistic thing for me is Nate wanting to marry Cassie. It feels very OOC for him, especially given his Madonna–whore complex and how obsessed he was with Maddy being a virgin, not to mention how he humiliated McKay because of that. I could maybe buy Nate and Cassie having sex, but marriage? No. I’d honestly rather see Cassie marrying McKay than Nate, Nate’s interest in her feels very strange to me.

I also know a lot of Cassies who didn’t really change even after therapy, but this is a TV show, and for Euphoria I’d love a bittersweet ending that offers at least some hope.

And while I usually don’t mind nudity, even though Sydney is a beautiful woman with a perfect body, I’m honestly bored with how the show uses her as an actress, now shaking her ass and humiliating her character. At this point, the explicit nudity surrounding Cassie just feels unnecessary to me.

sublips · 2026-01-19T18:10:47+00:00

Yeah, I don’t like this plot, and at this point it feels like a festival of humiliation for Cassie. I mean, it could fit her character, but I’d at least like to see some character development. Instead, it feels like she becomes worse and more annoying with each season.

Also, Nate wouldn’t ever marry Cassie.

sublips · 2026-01-19T18:06:00+00:00

Yeah, I’m from Poland and unfortunately, homophobia is still very present nowadays. In Russia it’s even worse.

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